Late December '91! As others have noted, Megan's crashout spiral following her kidney diagnosis is great work by Jessica Tuck, if a bit rushed. The intimacy with Andrew only ramps up from here; first she tells him 'I need you now' at the hospital, then she openly teases and tempts him during her illicit tango and drinking binge with Humberto/Cain at the Palace on/around December 17th. A lot of this hedonistic psychodrama plays out just before the Christmas shows, and it's a bit of a jolt given the holiday season but very engaging for me. I don't know how often OLTL went to Atlantic City in story before the '90s - I think Ruby Bright went there with Marco in the Rauch era - but it would become a regular fixture later, particularly in both Malone's runs on the show, first during Max's gambling addiction saga with Kassie's Blair in '94 and then when Victor/"Todd"/Walker, Natalie and John McBain get into ridiculous trouble in 2003 during Malone II. (I think Max and Roxy got married there during Live Week 2002 as well, and Roxy and Natalie both came from AC.)
I like that Megan instantly recognizes "Humberto" as Heinrich and has absolutely no time for Cain pretending otherwise. It's taken just about six months and at least two writing teams, but it's Megan who nails him to the wall, playfully needling him about his many identities and varied occupations until he goes mask off, even if she refuses to hear his real name during her East Coast rampage (complete with a lot of Gottlieb handheld camera work as they hit the dive bar and run into Dorian and Jason). Tuck and Cousins clearly enjoy each other's company and are good together; her sharp intellect and tongue are not as fluffy as Karen Witter's screwball energy, which makes Megan a different dynamic partner with Cain. "You're sexy and mysterious," Megan says. "That's all I want from you." She also has a great line for Dorian when she finds her tricked out with Jason: "Quite an outfit. Early dominatrix?"
What I like even more is how explicit and daring the show is willing to be with fulfilling the promise of the Megan/Cain tease back in October, as well as playing out what I strongly suspect was a pitched love triangle (if Tuck had re-signed) with Cain/Megan/Andrew during their run-in at the Palace, all presented here in a sort of hyper-truncated form over about a week of shows starting around 12/16-12/17. Megan's all over both her would-be suitors, making out heavily with Cain and crawling over Andrew on the dance floor, and it's not even subtle; Jake does not come up until it's far too late. There's some great pop music usage as Megan melts down in AC (after reuniting with Jake's old buddy Lucky and yes, a cameo from Ivana Trump) to the tune of Londonbeat's classic "I've Been Thinking About You." The following Monday she almost goes to bed with Cain, woozily attempting to seduce the increasingly uneasy con man to Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home" - a bit on the nose but the usage is amazing onscreen in the dark hotel suite, as Megan's night of debauchery ends up with her stripping off her garters down to her lingerie, crawling and writhing on the floor and bed before passing out in Cain's arms.
As soapfave noted though, this all wraps pretty damn quick lol. Cain and Andrew call for a doctor and get Megan airlifted back to Llanview between commercials, where she swiftly apologizes to Larry and Viki over getting her stomach pumped. It's a very fast recovery and reset for Megan during the Christmas week just in time for the holiday, almost as though the whole meltdown never happened - also IMO, as though Malone and Gottlieb (and now Griffith) wanted to play out a miniature version of possible would-be love triangle with Megan and their two new male leads before it was too late.
How might a triangle have worked out had things gone differently BTS, you ask? Well, for one thing if John Loprieno hadn't left they obviously intended Blair for Cord, which would more likely leave KW's Tina otherwise engaged in a triangle there and not definitely with Cain. Joe Lando was not coming back on contract, which would leave Megan (had JT stayed) in play for Cain and Andrew. This too would dictate that Max would most likely be for wallflower Luna, which I now suspect was an endgame much earlier than anyone realized before they pivoted to Max/Blair with Loprieno out. But I could be very wrong! This is where Malone’s story notes & papers from Duke University dating back to his OLTL days (and we know they're in those records, they're listed as such) might come in handy.
To cap it all off, Jake returns for more scenes with Ilsa, She Wolf of the S.S. in Jaba on the 22nd! "There is no Christmas in Jaba!" Ilsa crows, and I am pretty sure this is a NuIlsa different from the previous one. She looks awfully familiar to me and is a bit too New York theater lol. I went poking around but had no joy; any idea who it could be? Anyway, Jake cons Ilsa with the promise of sex to make a call to Megan on Christmas Day, and Mrs. Harrison tactfully makes no mention of her Atlantic City jaunt where she almost fúcked a con artist after trying to get under a priest's collar. Smart choice!
What fall 1991 and the Andrew/Megan/Cain mini-drama makes clear is that the party girl or fallen woman/holy man archetypes and romance path are a Malone staple he will return to again and again, much like his other favorite types, fantasy interludes, etc. They’re as much a part of him as Agnes Nixon’s own fixations (young love, poor little rich boys, broad humor or carnie folk, gothic mystery) or Doug Marland's (working-class/homespun families, incest/familial abuse, therapy). Malone of course iterates on what he was aiming for with Megan in full with Marty Saybrooke, who shares a very similar and more explicit relationship with Andrew while being tempted by much more dangerous men (Todd Manning) and became one of the show's last legendary heroines.
Later Malone was in a rock and a hard place during his second run in 2003, likely due to Fronsian micromanagement re: the youth set, when he poorly tried to remold Jessica Morris' Jen Rappaport in the same Marty mold; Jen ends up playing out the same story as Megan and Marty in a triangle with Joey's curate priest (Andrew) and hedonistic partner in crime Rex (Cain/Todd). Even Malone's take on Natalie (a much more natural fiery successor to Marty and Megan - and Tina and Karen Wolek IMO - than Jen) has elements of this; when John McBain rejects Natalie due to his past trauma in 2004, Natalie lashes out by unwisely getting involved with another iteration on Cain/Rex in Paul Cramer, a con man who relates to her darker side. In the end these are all variations on a theme for Malone. Some work, some really don't lol. It's just fun to dissect. But it's not the only iteration we'll see again.
Viki mouthing Jessica’s lines at the Christmas pageant at St. James is a great, very real touch. Andrew's sermon is beautiful but what's even better is kind of the capper to the mini-triangle, where Megan and Andrew have a chaste yet very intimate sleepover at the rectory on Christmas Eve. Megan/Andrew scenes are clearly a labor of love for Malone, and I don't think it ever played quite the same with the younger Susan Haskell and unstable Marty, even if she and Robert Krimmer definitely had serious chemistry. The week of Christmas ends with a seemingly recovered Megan predicting her own death and Andrew kissing her hand intimately (then apologizing, to which she says it warmed her up) as they sit together on a snowy park bench. That's consummation in and of itself, even if I suspect they never actually kiss.
This is all already a lot, so I'll save my stuff about the rest of the Christmas period for another post later. I will say though that I loved how Clint’s quiet grief finally breaks open a bit more when he and Viki get a Christmas tree & then don't want to bring it in after revisiting happy memories of Christmases past with Cord. They then run a vintage ’86 flashback with Cord and Clint discussing their discovery that they're father and son and it's a great little grace note. I also loved this bit of dialogue at the tree.
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Vee ·
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